Terms & Conditions of Use.

Our Toolkits have been developed by Dr Mike Bull and colleagues at Manchester Metropolitan University in collaboration with Adrian Ashton (Business Consultant).

  1. Acceptance of Terms and Conditions

Manchester Metropolitan University makes the information on this website available for your use subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this document (“the Terms of Use”). By accessing and using this site you agree to the Terms of Use. If you breach any of the Terms of Use, authorisation to use this website will automatically terminate. In such cases you must immediately destroy or return to Manchester Metropolitan University any materials downloaded or printed from the site. The Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

  1. Outline

Our Toolkits are ‘Performance Diagnostic & Strategic Management Analysis Toolkits’. They are questionnaire based self-assessment tools, which includes a supporting Snapshot (in the case of Balance a supporting Action Plan). As a Performance Diagnostic the tools ask you a number of questions for critical reflection across a comprehensive range of areas of your operations. The key questions are: What level of capability do you have? What activities are privileged over others? How balanced is an organisation? Where does time and effort get spent? As a Performance Diagnostic it doesn’t require any evidence or hard data to support your answers. Our Toolkits are about your opinion – your ‘gut feel’. You are asked ‘how capable is your organisation’? Our Toolkits can be completed in under an hour. We ask users to answer questions as honestly as they can to get the best use of the tool.

As a Strategic Management tool they provides a snapshot at the end of an assessment to visually show your areas of strength and those that need attention. We ask you to study your results and decide your focus. Balance includes a supporting Action Plan. Our toolkits support the refocusing of your strategic priorities, helping to plug current gaps, improve performance, save time and effort. Our toolkits are designed to raise awareness of the maturity of organisational practices, plot capabilities and give you an analysis whereby you can reflect on your strengths and consider changes to toughen your organisation’s resilience. Re-assess every 6 months to track progress and set milestones. Our Toolkits build knowledge, evidence and pathways for change.

  1. Disclaimer

Our Toolkits provide a snapshot of your answers. Additionally Balance provides an Action Plan that includes suggestions for business improvement through incremental actions and steps, with the aim of promoting best practice in the third sector. Whilst Manchester Metropolitan University makes every effort to ensure that the website is up to date and accurate, it cannot give any warranty that this is the case. Manchester Metropolitan University excludes to the fullest extent lawfully permitted all liability whatsoever for any loss or damage howsoever arising out of the use of this website or reliance upon the content of this website. Manchester Metropolitan University does not exclude liability to you for personal injury or death resulting from its negligence, for fraud or for any matter which it would be illegal to exclude or to attempt to exclude.

“Use of this website” includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Reliance placed upon information on the site

The downloading of materials from the site

In the case of downloading of virus materials it is your responsibility to ensure that material is virus checked by up to date virus software.

  1. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold Manchester Metropolitan University harmless against all claims, demands, costs and expenses arising whether directly or indirectly from your breach of the Terms of Use or any liability which you incur for Manchester Metropolitan University through your use of any of the information on this website.

  1. Participant Information

We invite you to take part in our research study through this website. Before you decide, it is important that you understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Please take time to read this information and discuss it with others if you wish. If there is anything that is not clear, or if you would like more information, please email balance@mmu.ac.uk.

5.1 What is the purpose of the website and the research study?
The purpose of the website and research study is to support you with a framework to reflect on your organisational practices and specifically in Balance only provide suggestions to address any areas that you decide are strategically important to the needs of your organisation. We are providing this website, as our second purpose is the use of your data for publishing from the research study findings, we will present at conferences and publish academic journal articles as well as publishing with our institutional partners (sector support agencies).

5.2 Why have I been invited?

Anyone that in a leadership role that is starting an enterprise, running an SME or a social enterprise is invited to participate.

5.3 Do I have to take part?

The answer is ‘No’: Taking part is entirely voluntary.

You can withdraw if you change your mind, without giving a reason at any time.

5.4 What will I be asked to do?

There are approximately 30 questions to answer from your personal viewpoint, reflecting on your organisational practices.

  • The survey takes on average an hour to complete.
  • You, or anyone else in your organisation, may revisit and retake the survey at any time.
  • The assessment can be aborted at any time before completion and any aborted responses will not be recorded.

5.5 What are the possible benefits of taking part?

Our toolkits are designed to support leaders in organisations to reflect on their performance and strategic practices. You can benefit directly from the process of reflection and deciding where you feel changes in your organisation are necessary. You can benefit directly from the results of the survey in support of making organisational changes, should you see strategic importance in doing so. You can benefit from colleagues participating in the survey and all of you comparing your results. This can especially be useful for strategic away day workshops.

5.6 What information about me will you collect and why?

We will collect your email. We will collect your organisation name. We will collect a range of answers to a range of question about your organisation. The main survey asks you to position your organisations on a 5 point likert scale from novice through to expert across approximately 30 organisational areas covering, for example; finance, marketing, people, learning, operations, finance, income diversification, governance and visioning. This information is collected so we can collect data across hundreds of organisations and gain insightful data of the capability gaps. This information will inform sector support agencies, national and regional support in the future.

5.7 How have participants been involved in this study?

  • Participant users were initially involved in the development of the research topic and what research questions should be asked. Research projects reports are available on request from balance@mmu.ac.uk
  • Participants were involved in reviewing the final website.
  • Participants were involved in designing this study and we have taken into account user’s opinions.
  • Any feedback on the website or the question set and Balance’s Action Plan would be appreciated, please email; balance@mmu.ac.uk

5.8 Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?

All information provided by you is kept secure. Your identifiable data will be stored on the Manchester Metropolitan University server (Dropbox for Business, One Drive, Sharepoint) and only shared with research partner institutions for research purposes only. We will only share data with institutional partners that are involved in the research through their involvement in data collection. These organisations are sector support agencies both regionally and nationally and local authorities. All published data will be anonymised.

  • Any research outputs will be anonymised. For example, participants will be identified by study code only in published articles.
  • Responsible members of Manchester Metropolitan University may be given access to data for monitoring and/or audit of the study to ensure that the research is complying with applicable regulations.
  • As part of using the website, where applicable – a researcher may be present (in person or online) at your assessment and this may involve video/audio-recording. Any recordings will be stored securely on Manchester Metropolitan University secure servers and treated the same as your survey answers in terms of sharing, as outlined above.

5.9 Who is organising and funding the study?

This website is organised and funded by Manchester Metropolitan University.

5.10 How will you use my information and what will happen to my data?

Data Protection Law

  • Data protection regulation provides you with control over your organisation data and how it is used. By accessing this site you agree to your organisation information being used in research.
  • In compliance with UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR) the data controller, Manchester Metropolitan University, will hold personal information collected from the website and is responsible for looking after your data and using it in line with the requirements of the data protection legislation applicable in the UK. This is for research purposes only (journal articles and sector related publications).
  • You have the right to make choices about your information under the data protection legislation, such as the right of access and the right to object, although in some circumstances these rights are not absolute. If you have any questions, or would like to exercise these rights, please contact the researcher (balance@mmu.ac.uk) or the University Data Protection Officer.
  • Should you wish to contact the data protection officer, here is their address and details;

Manchester Metropolitan Data Protection Officer dataprotection@mmu.ac.uk

Tel: 0161 247 3331

Legal Services,

All Saints Building,

Manchester Metropolitan University,

Manchester,

M15 6BH

  • You can stop being a part of the study at any time, without giving a reason. Data provided to date cannot be recalled from being used in future research project outputs.
  • If you withdraw from the study, we will destroy all your organisations identifiable survey results, but will use the data collected up to the date of your withdrawal.
  • We will be using information from this website in order to undertake related studies and will use the minimum organisational-identifiable information possible. We will keep identifiable information about your organisation for 20 years after the study has finished.
  • Any third party processors such as apps and cloud servers will remain secure through Manchester Metropolitan University.
  • You have the right to complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you would like to complain about how we process your personal data: UK Information Commissioner’s Office https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

5.11 What will happen to the results of the research study and the responses to the survey I give?

Your responses to the survey will inform research outputs, such as academic journal articles and sector specific publications both inside and outside the UK. Your responses to the survey will also go towards collecting a cumulative picture of ‘the state of enterprise’ in terms of organisation practices. Data which we hope will provide sector support agencies with information that will lead to the provision of services that meet the needs of enterprises. Anonymity is followed in any publications or presentations of the data.

5.12 Will I be reimbursed for taking part?

There is no compensation for time or expense costs associated with using the website, either by participants themselves or by others you share data with.

There are no charges associated with using the website.

5.13 What will happen if I don’t want to carry on with the study?

  • Participation is voluntary and you may change your mind at a later stage.
  • Data provided to date cannot be recalled from being used in future research project outputs.
  • If you withdraw from the study, we will destroy all your organisations identifiable survey results, but will use the data collected up to the date of your withdrawal.
  • Withdrawal requests need to be put in writing to balance@mmu.ac.uk

5.14 Who has reviewed the study?
This website has Manchester Metropolitan University Research Ethics Committee approval.

5.15 Participation in future research
By using this website you give consent for our retention of your contact details. We reserve the right to approach you to participate in future research projects. Your contact details will be held with data related to this study on password protected cloud storage in the Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University. All contact will come from our research team in the first instance and that by holding your contact details does not oblige you to take part in future research, and you can be removed from this register at any time you wish.

  1. Copyright Notice

CC BY-ND: This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

The license allows for commercial use.

  1. Privacy/Data Protection

8.1 Privacy notice for Diagnostic Toolkit Website

This Privacy Notice explains who we are, how and why we collect and use personal information about you, what personal data is collected and held about you for Diagnostic Toolkit Website, our purposes, and lawful bases for processing, who we share your personal data with, relevant retention periods, and how you can exercise your privacy rights.

Who we are

Throughout this notice, “University”, “we”, “our” and “us” refer to the Manchester Metropolitan University, an exempt charity under Schedule 2 to the Charities Act 1993 (amended by the Charities Act 2011). The University is the Data Controller in respect of the personal data you provide as part of [activity]. 

The University is registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). We manage personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the University’s Data Protection Policy.

The personal data we process

To use the toolkit, there’s a requirement to collect and process certain data about you. This includes:

Your name

Your email address 

The purposes of the processing

Our Toolkits is an organisational health check diagnostic toolkit that has been developed by a Manchester Metropolitan researcher and is part of an ongoing research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Our lawful basis for processing personal data under article 6 of GDPR is (E) Public Task.

If you contact us, we may also keep a record of that correspondence.

The recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data

We will not disclose the personal data you share with us to any third parties.

Data retention

Your personal data will only be retained for as long as it is necessary in accordance with the University’s Retention and Disposal Schedule. Specifically, we will retain your personal data (name, email address) from the end of the project plus ten years.

Your rights in respect of the processing

The GDPR provides data subjects with the following data subject rights:

The right to be informed – this privacy notice assists with fulfilling these obligations.

The right of access.

The right to rectification.

The right to erasure.

The right to restrict processing.

The right to data portability.

The right to object.

Please note, that these rights apply in certain circumstances, for example according to the lawful basis utilised by the University. The right of access to personal information held about you exists in order to be aware of, and verify, the lawfulness of the processing. Please use the contact information below to exercise these rights.

Contacting us

For questions or concerns about this Privacy Notice, or our use of your personal information, please contact Michael Bull (m.bull@mmu.ac.uk) in the first instance.

Our Data Protection Officer can also be contacted using dataprotection@mmu.ac.uk, by calling 0161 247 3884 or in writing to: Data Protection Officer, Legal Services, All Saints Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, M15 6BH.

Right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as the supervisory authority in respect of the processing of your personal data. We would encourage you to expend our internal complaints procedure through our initial contact and the University Data Protection Officer, prior to contacting the ICO. Please contact: casework@ico.org.uk or telephone: 0303 123 1113. For any further contact information please see: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/.

Updates to this privacy notice
We may update this privacy notice from time to time in response to changing legal, technical or business developments. When we update our privacy notice, we will take appropriate measures to inform you, consistent with the significance of the changes we make.

8.2 Data Protection

Manchester Metropolitan University will comply with its obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 in all dealings with any personal information which subscribers may provide us with. Manchester Metropolitan University confirms that it will never sell personal information to third parties.

Individuals provide Manchester Metropolitan University with personal information as part of an information or service request through this website. Manchester Metropolitan University will only use the data to process that request and it will only share data for research purposes only, providing anonymity in any publications.

  1. Consent

By completing a questionnaire you agree to taking part in this research study. You confirm that you have read the terms and conditions of use for this website. You confirm you have understood the purpose and the activities described in the participant information section (section 5). By completing a questionnaire you understand that your participation is voluntary and that you are free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason, without legal rights being affected.

You understand that this website collects your personal data and this data may be looked at by individuals from Manchester Metropolitan University and from their partner institutions, where it is relevant to your taking part in the research associated to this website. You agree for your anonymised data to be used in future research, here or abroad, which has ethics approval. By activating your access with your username and password you give permission for these individuals to have access to your records. You agree to being audio/video recorded in any related activities, such as interviews/focus groups that are part of the use of this website, should you agree to being involved in such activities. You give permission for a fully anonymised version of the data you provide to be deposited in an Open Access repository so that it can be used for future research and learning.

Thank you for considering participating in this project

By completing the questionnaire you give your consent and permission for the data you enter on this questionnaire to be used in the research for the purposes outlined above in the participant information section.